More Than Friends : Senior Year
by Black Knight 03
Summary: Can Miranda and Gordo survive their senior year as a couple? Follows Miranda and Gordo’s relationship through senior year. [MG]
1. End Of Summer

This is the sequel to More Than Friends. Who honestly didn't see this coming? Lol.

I've decided on the pairing for the 6th Fairytale Collection story (my god, what have I created?). I feel like I can create the best story using Jason with Amanda. She's the one who's plot I have the most developed and am getting the best feeling from but I have no idea when I'm going to actually start writing it. I've started too many things and need to complete some of them before I start something new.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 1 – End Of Summer

It was nearing the end of summer vacation and the beginning of senior year. The summer had been great for the new couple. It was still a hard balancing act between making time for each other and time for their friends, namely Lizzie, but they seemed to be pulling it off.

But it was also nice when the McGuires had gone on vacation for two weeks, allowing Miranda and Gordo to be a couple the whole time during those two weeks alone.

The two weeks had been incredible for them and a small part of them didn't want it to end. But another part of them missed their best friend.

After the McGuires had arrived home from the airport and Lizzie unpacked, she immediately headed over to the Sanchez's. She wanted to catch up with Miranda and knew there was a pretty good chance Gordo would be there too.

After knocking on the door and Mrs. Sanchez letting her in, she quickly made her way upstairs towards Miranda's bedroom. The door was slightly open, so without giving it much thought, Lizzie pushed it open and walked in.

"Hey Mir. Wha," Lizzie started to say as she walked in the room. "Sorry!" she said while quickly spinning around. She was torn between embarrassment and amusement because Lizzie had just walked in on Miranda and Gordo making out on her bed.

Gordo had been laying ontop of Miranda. He had one hand threaded through her black hair and cradling the back of her head and his other hand resting about half way up underneath her shirt. Miranda's hands had one hand about to slide inside Gordo's jeans and another gripping his belt buckle.

When Miranda heard the door open and then Lizzie's voice, using a surge of adrenaline, she practically threw Gordo off her. Unfortunately for Gordo, he landed on the edge of the bed and flipped off, landing hard on the floor with a loud thud.

"Lizzie!" Miranda shouted excitedly with a mix of surprise, embarrassment, and delight. Miranda jumped up and rushed over to her.

Lizzie turned back around and hugged Miranda. "I'm so sorry," Lizzie said trying not to laugh in her face about catching them.

Miranda blushed a little but tried to laugh it off. "Better you than my mom." she tired to joke.

A groan from the other side of the bed interrupted them and they both grinned as they watched Gordo slowly sit up.

"Ever heard of knocking Liz?" Gordo said as he sat up rubbing the back of his head.

"Well I wasn't expecting you to be groping my best friend," Lizzie teased him as he slowly got to his feet. Gordo gave her a dirty look, which caused both girls to start giggling.

Lizzie and Miranda sat down on the side of the bed and Gordo sat behind them. "How was Walla Walla?" Miranda asked her.

The McGuires had spent their two weeks vacation visiting some of Jo's family that lived in Washington.

"Long and boring. My cousins were younger than Gabby and more annoying than Matt. I am so glad to be home," Lizzie told her. "So what's been going on here? Well aside from Gordo trying to feel you up."

"Shut up," Miranda told her with a smirk. "Well, Veruca is now going out with Nick Pernta, we double dated with them last weekend. He's a junior but he's a nice guy. You'll meet him first day back. Kate and Ethan did their normal break up and then get back together routine."

"Why don't you tell her what happened at the movies," Gordo said with a smirk.

Lizzie looked back at Gordo for a moment and then at Miranda, "What happened?" she asked curiously.

Miranda glared at Gordo, "Nothing happened."

Gordo snickered, "Miranda threatened to rip Parker's head off."

Lizzie grinned, trying not to laugh. "Why did you do that?"

Gordo wrapped his arms around Miranda's waist and rested his chin on her shoulder, "Cause she's very possessive," he teased.

Miranda elbowed him in the ribs, "You've gotta open those beautiful blue eyes of yours you dork," she shot back at him. "Parker was hitting on you. If I hadn't walked up, she would've tried to feel you up. So I politely told her to get her grubby hands of my man or I'd snap her little neck." She then quickly added with a smirk to Gordo, "Nobody hits on my man but me."

Lizzie laughed and shook her head. "Perfect. So anything else?"

Miranda smiled, "Remember I told you about Claire at your after-prom party."

Lizzie grinned, "Yea. She was drooling over Larry."

"Well, Larry is working at the Electronics Shack now. We were at the mall a few days ago and Gordo had to get some more rewritable cds, so we stopped by. As Gordo was getting his stuff, Larry and me were talking at the counter. As we were talking, Claire walks in. She takes like three steps inside the store and then sees me and just stops dead in her tracks. After a minute, she quickly walks up, grabs the first thing she sees and babbles some excuse. After paying, she practically runs out of the store." As Miranda finished, Lizzie and her were laughing.

"Oh, that's not even the best part," Miranda told her. "Larry told me, she comes in like at least three times a week with a different excuse and she does the Gordo flirt."

"Hey," Gordo snapped.

When Gordo tries to flirt with a girl, he gets nervous and starts rambling, sometimes shaking a little, and starts telling bad jokes. So whenever the girls saw him or someone else doing it, they called it the Gordo flirt.

"Ah, did I upset my little Gordo," Miranda said sarcastically to him. Gordo just glared at her, which caused the girls to laugh harder.

Lizzie tried to calm down, "Did you get the info from UCLA?"

Miranda and Lizzie had signed up to go to go to an open house at UCLA, one of the many colleges they were thinking of applying to, where they would get to spend a weekend, Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, at the school shadowing a student. They, more so Miranda, had also forced Gordo to sign up too.

"Yea. It came while you were gone." Miranda got up and went over to her desk. Digging around for a moment she found a manila folder. "We're going the second weekend in September," Miranda read off of the paper.

"Coolie. I can't wait," Lizzie said as she walked over to look at the other stuff Miranda got and was pretty sure was waiting for her at home once her parents went through the mail.

"Oh yea. You two get to at least be together, I can't wait to see who I get stuck with," Gordo said as he laid back on Miranda's bed.

Miranda smirked at Lizzie and walked over to the bed. Sitting on the edge next to Gordo, she pouted a little and gently started to trace shapes on his chest with her finger. "You promised Gordo and I'll make it worth your time."

Gordo let out a frustrated growl and tossing his head back, he closed his eyes. "Fine," Gordo grumbled. Miranda snickered and leaned in to kiss him before walking back to Lizzie.

"You have him wrapped around your little finger don't you?" Lizzie joked.

Miranda shrugged. "I wouldn't say that, but I do know how to get what I want," she told her best friend with a smirk.


	2. Darkest Weekend

Abuhin – I hadn't thought of that for this story but it could be interesting. I see if I can add it in but probably won't show up until later in the story.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 2 – Darkest Weekend

Lizzie and Miranda were excitedly counting down the days leading up to their weekend at UCLA.

Friday night, Miranda, Lizzie, and Gordo, along with about twenty other high school seniors, were gathered in the lobby of the UCLA auditorium waiting to be given their room assignment for the weekend. As Gordo stood against a wall, Miranda stood in front of him leaning back against him with his arms around her, and Lizzie sat in a chair next to them.

A middle aged man stood at a table giving out the room assignments and introducing them to the students who they were staying with.

"Miranda Sanchez and Elizabeth McGuire," the man called out.

Since Miranda and Lizzie were girls, they could stay together and had requested to stay with roommates. This way, they figured that if they didn't like who they were partnered with, they would still be together to make the time atleast bearable. This was also Gordo's biggest complaint. What would we do if he didn't like who he was partnered with.

As Lizzie stood up, Miranda turned around and kissed Gordo. "Try not to miss me too much," she teased as the girls gathered their stuff and walked up front.

Another woman, who was sitting at the table, handed them each a folder that held general information. The man looked down at his clipboard, "You girls will be staying with Rachel Garret and Teresa Pollard." After reading the names off his clipboard, two girls walked up from behind him.

"Hi, I'm Teresa and this is Rach," the tallest girl greeted them with a smile. The other girl just looked at Lizzie and Miranda, like she was judging them or something.

Both girls reminded Miranda of models. They were tall, thin, and dressed in expensive clothes. But their personalities were as different as night and day.

Lizzie smiled at them, "Hi. I'm Lizzie and this is Miranda."

As Teresa and Rachel lead them back to their dorm, Teresa kept talking and occasionally Miranda or Lizzie would answer a question. But Rachel would keep quiet, walking a few feet a head of them.

Miranda studied Rachel for a moment. She was wearing a tight, low cut pink belly shirt, a tight black miniskirt, and a pair of platforms. _"She reminds me of the junior high version of Kate."_

That night, Miranda's impression of Rachel continued to drop. They were talking and every time something came out of Rachel's mouth, it had a snobby edge to it. But Miranda wasn't going to let her ruin her trip. Tomorrow, they were getting a tour of the campus and tomorrow night was a party, like an informal meet some of the faculty and possible professors.

The next morning, Lizzie and Teresa were bonding fast and had gone out for breakfast and Rachel had disappeared somewhere. Lizzie and Teresa had invited Miranda, but she didn't want to go out and she was going to meet Gordo anyway in the main cafeteria for breakfast.

After buying her breakfast, Miranda walked into the cafeteria and after a few seconds of looking around, she spotted Gordo sitting in a booth in the far corner.

"Hey handsome," Miranda said as she slipped into the booth and sat next to him.

Gordo smiled at her and gave her a small kiss. "How was your night?"

"Eh, so-so. Teresa, the red head, is pretty cool. She's an English major and wants to be a writer," Miranda told him as she started to peel an orange.

"What about the other one?" Gordo asked.

Miranda groaned and rolled her eyes. "You remember Kate in junior high?"

"That bad?" Gordo asked in disbelief and amusement.

"Worse," she whined. "Its like she too good to be slumming it with us commoners. I saw her closet, and this girl as more shoes than Kate and Claire combined."

Gordo started laughing. Wrapping his arms around her, he hugged her as Miranda leaned against him. "My poor baby."

Miranda reached down under the table and grabbed the back of one of Gordo's knee. "Keep mocking me," she threatened him as she squeezed. Gordo winced in pain but kept laughing.

As they ate, they talked and continued to shoot one-liners back and forth. It was one of the reasons Miranda really liked being in a relationship with him; they were so comfortable around each other. The basis of the relationship had stayed the same, becoming romantic, just seemed to add more to it.

"I gotta go Rand. John, the guy I'm staying with, is gonna show me the sororities," he told her with a lopsided grin. John Greyheart was whom Gordo was staying with for the trip.

Miranda reached down and grabbed his belt buckle, "You just remember who you belong to," she joked as she kissed him.

As Gordo got up, he bent down and kissed her again, "You remember that too when you go check out those fraternities," he shot back with a smile. They both laughed and Miranda watched Gordo walk away.

After Teresa and Lizzie got back and met Miranda at the dorm room, they took a tour of the campus. After the tour, Teresa showed the girls around the area and then spent most of the afternoon hanging out.

Arriving back at the dorm to get ready for the party, Rachel had returned and she had a bunch of bags with various designer labels on them.

As Miranda finished getting ready, Rachel walked out of the bathroom wearing what looked like a very expensive dress. Rachel glanced at Miranda and Lizzie, almost as if she was judging them again.

_"How the hell can Teresa stand her? If she isn't judging or condescending us, she ignores us all together. I really doubt they're even friends,"_ Miranda thought to herself as she smoothed out her conservative blue dress.

Rachel and Teresa on the outside were very similar both were very image conscious. But on the inside, Teresa was warm and open. She was constantly talking to them and being friendly. But Rachel was cold and distant. She was acting like a complete snob. While Teresa seemed to be immune to it and Lizzie either didn't notice it or didn't care, it was grating on Miranda's nerves.

As the four of them entered the hall where the reception was taking place, Miranda almost instinctively, started scanning the room looking for Gordo.

Suddenly, Rachel's voice caught her attention, "He's cute."

Miranda glanced at her and saw her adjust her dress a little so it was a bit more revealing. _"Slut,"_ Miranda thought as she saw this.

She then followed her line of sight. Her eyes went wide in surprise as she saw Gordo. He was talking to who she guessed was John. _"Oh, hell no."_

But before she could even react, Rachel was sauntering towards him. Miranda was too stunned to even react as she watched Rachel walkup to Gordo. As she watched Rachel try and flirt with Gordo, Miranda's temper started to boil. Her jaw clenched and she started to walk over. She failed to notice the annoyed expression on Gordo's face as Rachel tried to flirt with him.

Just as she reached them, to her horror, Rachel leaned in and kissed Gordo. Something inside her clicked and Miranda let out an almost feral growl. Anger had completely blinded her judgment. She wasn't even sure if Gordo had kissed her back or that she even made the realization that Gordo had pushed Rachel off him.

Rachel quickly looked up at hearing Miranda's growl. As she did, Miranda's fist connected with her nose. As Rachel stumbled back, Miranda turned on Gordo and slapped him hard across the face. Miranda was acting on pure emotion and not thinking. She was lashing out at everyone. Somehow in her mind, she saw Gordo kissing her back. If she had been thinking clearly, she knew the Gordo would never hurt her like that.

Gordo was stunned as he touched the side of his face. As he opened his mouth to say something, Miranda just ran out of the hall.

Gordo just stood there dumbfounded, not really sure what happened or what to do next. One second he was talking to John and the next Miranda is running away from him in tears. As he stood there, his head spinning about what just happened, Gordo felt like there was gaping wound in his chest.


	3. Foolish Pride

A/N – "Thoughts"

Chapter 3 – Foolish Pride

Gordo paced around his room as he stared at his cell phone in his hand, almost trying to will it to ring. It had been two antagonizing days since the kiss and Gordo was a mess. There were black circles under his eyes from lack of a sleep, he had barely eaten anything in the past two days, and his patience was fried. Miranda refused to even look at him since Saturday night.

After Miranda left the party, she had gone straight to the dorm room and after calling her mom to pick her up, she changed and quickly packed all of her stuff. She was gone by the time Gordo finally got to the dorm room.

The next day Gordo tried calling her almost twenty times using both her home phone and cell numbers, but she wouldn't answer. Then back at school on Monday, Miranda walked past Gordo like he wasn't even there.

It was obvious she was upset with him, but the problem was he didn't really know why. Even though he didn't understand what he did to piss her off, he'd willingly apologize to her to get her to stop ignoring and avoiding him. He just wanted his girlfriend back.

Sighing, he quickly typed in the numbers to her cell phone. "Come on, pick up." Gordo frowned as he got transferred to Miranda's voice mail.

"Look if you're gonna be mad at me, will you at least tell me what I did? Is this about that stupid kiss? She kissed me; I never wanted her to do it. Come on Rand, you're the only girl I wanna kiss. Please Mir, I just wanna talk." As he finished leaving his message he hung up.

Flipping the cell phone onto his desk, he let out a tired sigh as he flopped backwards onto his bed. Draping an arm over his eyes, he tried to fall asleep. Gordo hadn't slept much in the past seventy-two hours and it was starting to catch up to him.

Just as he started to fall into a restless sleep, someone knocked on his bedroom door. Groaning as he removed his arm, he slowly sat up, "What?" he barked.

The door opened and Lizzie walked in. "Hey," she said softly as she studied his face.

"Hey."

Lizzie let out a breath as she sat down, "How are you?"

Gordo gave her an irritated glare, "How the hell do you think I am?" Standing up, he started storming around the room, rubbing his fist. "Some strange girl kisses me, my girlfriend punches her and then slaps me, and now she won't even talk to me! So other than that I feel great," Gordo yelled.

"Gordo," Lizzie said softly.

Sitting down defeated on the end of the bed, he just put his head in his hands. Lizzie wheeled the desk chair over to him. Sitting in front of him, she reached out and gently put a hand on his shoulder.

Gordo slowly looked up at her and Lizzie cringed a little as she saw the sad look in his eyes.

"I don't even know what I did Liz," Gordo said softly, the pain coming out in his voice. "I didn't want her to kiss me. I didn't even know she was going to kiss me." Rubbing his face, he looked down at the ground. "I just want Miranda back."

"I know Gordo." Lizzie had made up her mind. She had hoped the Miranda would've cooled off by now and realized what really happened. But she hadn't and Miranda was only making it worse by ignoring Gordo.

Getting up, she sat down next to Gordo and hugged him. "Don't give up on her," she whispered to him as she let go. "I have to take care of something, I'll call you later. Don't give up," Lizzie told him before walking out.

Gordo just nodded and watched her leave. After a few minutes of just blankly staring at the floor, he pushed himself off his bed and decided to take a hot shower, hoping atleast it would soothe is tired body.

Lizzie quickly made her way from Gordo's house to Miranda's. After Mrs. Sanchez let her in, Lizzie jogged up the stairs. Reaching Miranda's room, she didn't even bother to knock but just threw the door open and walked in.

Miranda, who was sitting on her bed listening to her cd player, quickly looked up. Lizzie glared at her, "We need to talk."

Miranda pulled the headphones off her head, "About what?"

"What the hell do you think?" Lizzie's voice rose in anger. There was one sure fire way to piss Lizzie off and that was to hurt Gordo. Even though they weren't together anymore, she cared deeply for her best friend and considered him like family.

Standing up, "I'm not talking about him," she growled.

"Too bad!" Lizzie snarled as she walked around the bed so she was standing in front of her. "You're killing him."

"I'm killing him? What about what he did to me?" Miranda yelled at her. "He kissed another girl! What, all a girl has to do is show him a little leg and some breast and he'll make out with them!"

Lizzie rolled her eyes, "He didn't do anything to you! She kissed him!" she yelled back at Miranda. "If you hadn't flown into a blind rage, you would've realized that Gordo pushed her away. But no, you had to try and take his head off!"

"Still doesn't change the fact that he kissed another girl," Miranda tried to rationalize.

Lizzie looked her dead in the eyes, "Miranda, get over your stupid, foolish pride. He didn't kiss her; when she kissed him, he immediately pushed her away. You've known him almost as long as I have. He would never intentionally hurt you like this. Gordo doesn't want someone else, for some god unknown reason, he wants you. The longer you throw this stupid tantrum, the more you're gonna push him away and eventually, there's gonna be no going back. Now, do you want to lose him for good?"

Miranda looked away and walked over to the window. As she looked outside, she stayed quiet for a few minutes. Lizzie watched her, unsure of what she'd say or do next. _"A quiet Miranda is a dangerous Miranda."_

Miranda eventually looked over at Lizzie with a pained expression that was almost identical to the one she'd seen on Gordo's face.

"I royally screwed up, didn't I?" Miranda asked softly and Lizzie nodded to her. Miranda sniffled and wiped away some tears that were starting to fall. Looking back out the window, "Do you think he'll talk to me?" Miranda asked.

_"She almost sounds scared. I've never known Miranda to be scared, she's the daredevil of the group. I didn't realize her feelings for him were this deep. I've never seen anything shake her like this,"_ Lizzie thought to herself. "He really doesn't care anymore, he just wants you back." Lizzie watched as a sad smile spread across her face.

"I need to change," Miranda said as she walked over to her closet.

Lizzie grinned a little; Miranda was finally seeing what she was really doing. As Lizzie was about to walk out, Miranda called to her, "Liz." Lizzie stopped in the doorway and looked over at the closet where Miranda was standing. "Thanks," Miranda told her with a small smile.

Lizzie smiled back, "Anytime."


	4. Making Up

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 4 – Making Up

By the time Miranda arrived at the Gordon's, it was a little after midnight. She had spent the last few hours trying to figure out how exactly to apologize and then summoning the courage to actually face him.

She knew she was wrong the second Lizzie forced her to think about what happened. But as usual she let here motions cloud her judgment and now she may have just completely screwed up the best thing to happen to her.

Miranda looked at the window once again and knew at the very least she had to apologize to save their friendship.

Walking around the house to the back, there was a large elm tree and one of its huge branches reached out to just the edge of Gordo's back window. If she balanced just right she could make it without falling and breaking something.

Climbing the tree, Miranda slowly crawled out on the branch, praying it wouldn't brake under her weight. Very carefully she reached out and as best she could, quietly opened Gordo's window.

After a few minutes, she finally got the window open. Miranda slowly climbed off the branch and onto the window ledge. Ducking underneath the window and into his room, she went to lower herself into his room but ended up falling over and crashing.

Crashing in a heap with aloud bang, "Damn it," she swore under her breath. Lying completely still, she waited to see if anyone had heard the crash and came to check it out.

After a few minutes of nothing, Miranda slowly stood up as she rubbed her knee. Looking at Gordo, she smiled a little and shook her head. _"That boy could sleep through an earthquake."_

Slowly walking over to the bed, Miranda studied him. He was sprawled out on top of his bed in a pair of shorts and a tanktop, but what Miranda noticed immediately was the pained expression on his sleeping face.

Sighing softly, Miranda kicked off her shoes and sat down Indian style on his bed. She just sat there watching him sleep; she didn't have the heart to wake him just yet.

Losing track of time, Miranda wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there when Gordo shifted and his arm brushed up against her knee. Tying her best not to jump out of her skin, she watched Gordo slowly open his eyes.

When he first saw her, Gordo thought he was still dreaming. Rubbing a hand over his face, he tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes. "Miranda?" his tired voice cracked out.

Miranda had to bite her lip from crying at the sound of his voice. Taking a deep breath, "I'm sorry," she said softly, her voice cracking a little and a few tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.

Gordo slowly sat up and he opened his mouth to say something but Miranda interrupted him. "I'm an idiot. I know you'd never hurt me but when I saw Rachel kissing you, I just flipped out."

"If I saw another guy kissing you, I would've done the same thing," he told her but Miranda shook her head no.

"No you wouldn't. You would've actually seen me push him off me but as usual, I let my emotions rule everything," Miranda said as she looked down at the comforter on the bed.

Gordo grinned a little and gently cupping her chin with one hand, he lifted her face so that she was looking at him. "But that's what I love about you. You let your emotions out and don't bottle everything up like me. I wish I could do that."

Miranda smiled, "We make a great pair. You over think everything and I'm a basket case," she joked and they both started laughing softly.

After a few minutes, Miranda took Gordo's hand off her chin and held it. "Do you think you could ever forgive me for hurting you?" she asked softly as she started to trace the patterns in his palm.

Gordo nodded, "Look, I know we're not always going to have a smooth relationship but when have we ever?" Gordo smirked at his joke and Miranda snickered. "Just next time you get really mad at me don't run away and start to ignore me."

Miranda looked at him with a small smile, "Ok."

Gordo drew her into his lap; after wiping away the tear tracks from her cheeks, he gently kissed her. Just as he started to pull back, Miranda quickly recaptured his lips with her own, and started a deep, passionate kiss.

For the rest of the night, Miranda and Gordo just sat there talking. It wasn't about anything in particular, they just talked.

As Gordo sat up at the head of the bed, leaning back against the wall, he listened to Miranda talk about her physics test as he held her. Miranda was lying curled up next to him, arms wrapped around his waist and her head resting against his chest. He didn't really care what she was talking about; he just liked listening to her voice.

As he listened, he started to notice sunlight starting to creep into the windows. When Miranda finished, Gordo nudged her a little. "Its morning."

Miranda picked her head up and looked out the window, "I can't believe we talked all night. My parents are going to kill me if they know I've been out all night."

As they reluctantly let go of each other, both let out a huge yawn. They looked at each other and laughed a little. "Staying up all night does not help when you're emotionally drained," Gordo said as he stood up and stretched a little.

"Let's skip then," Miranda told him as she walked around the bed.

"What?" Gordo asked in surprise.

Wrapping her arms around his waist, Miranda looked at him with an evil smile. Gordo knew she was scheming something. "We skip. We go to homeroom, we get officially marked in and then we sneak out and skip the rest of the day."

"Then what do we do?" Gordo asked trying to suppress a smile.

"Well, we can go to the movies, the park," Miranda then leaned in and gave him a small kiss and taking one hand, gently brushed his cheek, "or maybe back here."

Gordo closed his eyes and tried to keep his body under control but he couldn't hide the smile as he imagined what they could be doing. "As much as I would love to do that." he said opening his eyes, "I think that's the last thing we need to be doing right now and plus, I just want to sleep."

Miranda pouted a little, "Fine, we'll come back here and just sleep." Just as she finished, Miranda let out another huge yawn and as Gordo laughed at her, Miranda stomped on his foot and started to walk towards the window. "I gotta get home before my parents wake up. See you in a bit," she said before leaving.

At school, Miranda quickly left her homeroom and immediately headed for Gordo's locker. Walking up behind him, she warped her arms around him and nuzzled the back of his neck. "Ready?" she whispered to him. Gordo just nodded and felt the goose bumps rise as she breathed softly on his neck.

As Miranda lead him around the school and out a backdoor, he smiled realizing Miranda must've done this before. After taking a roundabout way to the student parking lot, they quickly got into Gordo's car and he took off towards his house.

Ten minutes later, they were back at his house. After Gordo tossed off his jeans, he went to his dresser to get a pair of shorts. Grabbing a pair, he put them on and turned around to find Miranda watching him with a grin

"What?" he asked her with a smirk.

Knowing she had Gordo's attention, Miranda kicked off her sneakers and as she walked to the bed, unbuttoned her jeans and let them fall to the ground. Looking over her shoulder, she giggled at the expression on Gordo's face. Pulling off her own t-shirt, she grabbed one of Gordo's button down shirts hanging on the knob of his closet and pulled it on. Buttoning the middle three buttons, the shirt fell to her knees. Jumping into the bed and curling up under the covers, she gave a Gordo a seductive smile.

As he watched her, he let out a soft whimper as he felt his body trying to overpower his mind. "What are you doing Rand?" Gordo joked as he walked over to her.

"Just making myself comfortable," she told him with a smile. Pulling back the covers on his side, "Now get in."

Gordo laughed and shook his head as he did what he was told. "I thought we were just gonna sleep?"

"We will," she said as she rested her head on his chest but pretended she just couldn't get comfortable. After a few minutes, Miranda grabbed Gordo's t-shirt and pulled it off him, not getting much resistance from Gordo.

Snuggling into him, she put her head on his shoulder and smiled. "Much better," she said softly.

"You tryin to kill me Sanchez?" Gordo joked as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

Miranda just smiled at him as she closed her eyes and slowly fell asleep. Gordo rolled his eyes and settling next to her, finally let the exhaustion catch up to him and fell asleep with his arms wrapped around her.


	5. Harvard Bound

If anyone is interested, and understands the stupid thing, hockeylover as created a C2 group for M/G stories. I'm still hunting down M/G stories, especially the older ones. If anyone remembers any that I haven't found, send me an email. If interested, go to hockeylover's or my profile, or it's the only group listed on the main page of the LM section (upper right hand corner).

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 5 – Harvard Bound

It had been about two months since the UCLA incident and Miranda and Gordo had survived with their relationship not just intact but stronger. It was kinda of a turning point for them, moving out of the hot and heavy part of their relationship and now actually having a serious relationship.

Currently, it was Kate's birthday and she was having a party at her house. Mostly everyone was upstairs; Kate was networking the so-called popular crowd. It was like there was now two Kate's. The popular one who put on an act, worried about how she looked, and what people thought of her. Then there was the normal one, the girl who had been their friend when they were younger. The normal one would hangout in sweats with her friends and pig out on junk food.

Downstairs, the Sanders had a pool table in their basement. Miranda sat on a stool and watched Gordo and Nick, Veruca's boyfriend, play. Slowly looking around the room, she watched some of her friends. To her, it was funny how they went from a tight knit group of three, to a much larger group.

It had started in Rome. Lizzie and Kate started to hang out more and Ethan and Gordo seemed to better understand each other. So when she came back from Mexico and them from Rome, the five of them usually hung out together, though it was awkward between her and Kate. But slowly both Gordo and her saw the changes in Kate, they still didn't fully trust her but they could at least get along.

Entering High School, Larry became friends with Gordo and Ethan. Then when Miranda and him dated sophomore year, he was added to their group.

Then rounding out the group was Veruca. Late in 8thgrade, Veruca and Lizzie started to hang out a little. Then their freshman year, Veruca and Miranda had some of the same classes and they started to hangout, they also bonded over the fact they were Larry's exes. Veruca and Larry had dated the summer between junior high and high school and during freshman year. During last summer, she started to hang out more with their group and she was brought in too.

They each had their own separate friends too but these were the ones who joined their close group.

As Miranda looked around, she saw Larry talking with Veruca across the room. Turning her attention back to the table, she knew Lizzie, Kate, and Ethan were upstairs somewhere.

After Rome, Lizzie's popularity had soared and hanging out with Kate didn't hurt either. But she really didn't change much and every time she went out with Kate, she made sure Miranda was invited as well. Lizzie had once told her, _"As close as me and Kate get, you'll always be my sister."_

She didn't realize it but as she remembered that, a small grin appeared on her face and looking at the table, she caught Gordo's eye. He was looking at her with an amused smile. Miranda rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him.

When they finished their game, Nick walked over to Veruca and Larry and Miranda got up and walked over to Gordo. Gordo smiled as she picked up a cue. "You know how to play?"

"Kinda. I've watched you guys enough," Miranda told him. As she held the cue backwards, Gordo laughed and took it out of her hands and turned it around before handing it back to her.

As Miranda went to take a shot, she completely missed the cue ball, "Damn."

Gordo pressed up against her and put his hands over her's. "Like this," he said softly as he guided her hands. They hit the cue ball, which hit the three ball and sunk it.

Miranda let a happy squeal as it sank. "Let me try it alone." Gordo nodded and set up an easy shot for her. When she made it again, she had a huge smile. "How about we bet something."

Gordo smirked, feeling a little too confident, "Like what?"

"How about if I don't sink anything, I make you dinner wearing anything you want, within reason. But for every ball I sink, I pick that many movies we're gonna watch."

Gordo's smirk grew into a wide smile as he surveyed the table. The rest of the balls were gathered in a large bunch at the other end of the table. "Sure," he said feeling this was in the bag.

Miranda lined up the cue ball and suddenly Gordo watched Miranda's face change to deep concentration. He started getting a sinking feeling in his stomach. When Miranda hit the cue ball, it shot across the table and the balls scattered. Gordo watched in a mix of awe, confusion, and stupidity, as three balls dropped.

Turning to face him, she had a triumphant smirk on her face. Gordo looked at her for a moment and then slowly put the cue down on the table. Miranda started to slowly back away from him, a little unsure of what he was doing. Rounding the corner she handed the cue to Larry. "Gordo?"

"You hustled me," he said with no emotion as he slowly started to follow her around the table.

"Gordo," she said again trying not to laugh.

"You little minx, you set me up," He quickly rounded the corner and before Miranda could react, grabbed her and started tickling her. Falling onto the floor, Gordo had her pinned as he continued tickling her. The only thing Miranda could do was rive in hysterics as she laughed. "You set up your own boyfriend."

"Ok ok," Miranda said through gasps for breath. Grabbing his wrists, she pulled his hands off her ribs. "If I still get to pick the movies, I'll make you dinner." Looking up at him, she couldn't help but laugh at his wolfish grin. She loved bringing out this more playful side of him. "Remember I said within reason."

"Can't you two keep your hands off of each other?" Lizzie joked as she walked down the stairs, followed by Ethan, Kate, and Claire.

Gordo picked his head up and looked over at her with a grin. "I don't remember hearing you ever complain about it," he joked.

As the group laughed, Lizzie covered her face with her hand as she shook her head but she couldn't hide her smile.

As Gordo got up and then helped Miranda up, Claire slowly walked over to Larry.

"He…Hey Larry," Claire stuttered.

Larry tried to keep the smirk of his face, "Hey Claire."

"Umm…I just wanted to apologize for treating you like a jerk," she said softly as she looked down at the ground and started to roll one of the balls around on the pool table.

Larry wasn't really sure what to say but before he could, Kate interrupted. "Oh for the love of! Will you just ask him out already?"

As the room laughed softly, Claire's head snapped up and looked over at Kate with an almost mortified expression. Kate just smirked, "We know you like him. So just ask him out already. Who cares if he's a dork, no offense Larry. I mean join Lizzie and Miranda in the date a dork club," Kate joked.

"Hey," Larry and Gordo said in unison.

"Or Larry can join Ethan in the date a bitch club. No offense Claire," Miranda shot back.

Turning back to Larry, "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies tomorrow?" Claire blurted out fast.

"Sure."

Claire looked at him with sort of a confused and surprised expression on her face. "You would?" she asked in disbelief.

Larry smirked, "Yea I would."

For the rest of party the group, minus Ethan and Kate who had to go back upstairs cause it was her party and Larry and Claire who sat off to the side talking, hung out in the basement. They just fooled around, making fun of each other, playing pool, or just talking.

It was about eight o'clock by the time Miranda and Gordo walked into the Gordon's house. As they were sitting in the kitchen talking and picking on some grapes, Miranda grinned at him. "So you pick my outfit yet?"

Gordo grinned back, "Too many options. I'll narrow it down, trust me."

Miranda bounced a grape off of Gordo's face and they both started laughing. A few moments later Mr. and Mrs. Gordon walked into the kitchen with an envelope.

"David, this came for you," Mrs. Gordon said handing him the envelope.

Miranda stood up and walked up behind him to look over his shoulder. Gordo looked at the envelope, "Its from Harvard."

Tearing it open; as he read the letter, a smile appeared on his face and slowly widened. "I got in." Jumping up, he tossed the letter onto the table, "I got in!"

Turning around, he picked Miranda up and spun her around the kitchen. Putting her back down, he kept his arms tightly around her and gave her a fierce and fiery kiss.

That night, after Miranda got home from celebrating Gordo getting into Harvard, she sat at her desk looking at the college applications she had. Some were almost finished and others weren't even started. The first few were from USC, Berkley, Stanford, and UCLA. Thinking about UCLA, Miranda's face scrunched up in disgust.

Putting them down, Miranda opened a drawer and pulled out another bunch of applications. Looking at them, she sighed softly as she knew she had a decision to make and needed to make it soon. _"Boston College. Columbia. NYU. Brown. Harvard."_

Putting the applicants back away, _"If I went east, would I be just following him there? Or do I really want to go?"_


	6. Christmas Promises

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 6 – Christmas Promises

It was Christmas Eve and Miranda and Gordo were sitting in the Sanchez's living room. Miranda was sitting on one end of the couch and Gordo was lying down on the couch with his head in Miranda's lap. They had shut off all the lights so the only light in the room was from the decorated Christmas tree.

Last week, Miranda had gone with Gordo and his family to Hanukah services and tomorrow, Gordo was going with Miranda and her family to Christmas mass.

Miranda stared off into space, thinking, and absent mindedly played with Gordo's hair. Gordo looked up at her, "You ok Rand?" he asked softly.

Miranda snapped to and blinked a few times, "Uh?" Looking down at him, "I'm fine."

"You've been really quiet."

"So?" she asked him, slightly annoyed.

Gordo just grinned at her, reached up and brushed her cheek, "You only get really quiet when something is bothering you."

Miranda opened her mouth to say something but then paused for a moment, thinking again. "Can we survive a long distance relationship?"

Gordo sat up and looked at her, "Is that what's bothering you?"

"Part of it," Miranda said.

"Do you even know where you're going to go to school?" Gordo asked.

"No."

"Than why are you worried about this now?" The second the words left his mouth, Gordo knew he was in trouble.

Miranda glared at him furiously. "Cause unlike you, I care about our relationship," she shouted at him standing up. "Like it or not, this is something we're going to have to face," she yelled as she started to pace around the room, gesturing wildly.

Gordo tried to pick his words carefully. When Miranda was really mad, you do not want to provoke her. "Mir." Miranda glared at him, regarding him cautiously.

Standing up, he walked over to her. Gently but firmly cupped her face, he made her look at him. "Don't you ever say I don't care about our relationship," he said evenly but made sure he got his point across. "Ever since I found out I got into Harvard, I've been worried about what's gonna happen to us."

"You don't show it," Miranda said as her face slowly softened and she put her hands on his wrists.

Gordo let go of her and scooped her up in his arms and sat back down on the couch, with Miranda in his lap. "Its cause I don't want to make a mountain out of a mole hill. While I am scarred about our future, I'm waiting for all the facts before I start bouncing of the walls," Gordo joked as he finished.

Miranda smiled at him and rested her head in the crook of his neck. "Can we still talk about it?"

"Sure. If you want to."

She stayed quiet for a few minutes, trying to figure out what she wanted to say. "I'm scarred that if I go to school out east, I'm only going just because you're out there and I'd just be following you. While I want to be with you, I still want to live my own life. I'm scarred of making the wrong decision."

Hugging her, he gently nuzzled her hair. "I don't know what to tell you. While I would love nothing more than to have you out there with me, I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do or may regret later. I just want you to be happy."

Miranda stood up and started pacing again. "That's the problem. I don't know what'll make me happy. You make me happy and that's why I love you but I don't know if I should go with you out east or go to school here."

"Wait a minute. Back up," Gordo said suddenly and he stood up. Walking up to her, he stopped right in front of her. "What did you say?"

"I don't know if I should go out east or stay here," she said a little confused.

Gordo shook his head, "Before that."

"You make me happy and I lo," Miranda stopped mid-sentence as she realized what she had said. She slowly looked up at him, "I love you."

Looking at her with a mix of surprise, shock, and incredible happiness. Miranda quickly looked down embarrassed and a little uncomfortable.

"Rand," he softly called her. As she shyly looked up at him, Gordo gently caressed her check, "I love you too."

They looked at each other, neither really sure what to say or do next.

After a few minutes, Miranda broke the silence, "You know this just makes things even more difficult."

"I know," Gordo said as he nodded. Miranda stepped forward, threaded her arms around his waist, and hugged him tightly. Miranda rested her head against his as Gordo hugged her back.

The next morning, Christmas morning, the Sanchez's were flying around the house, trying to get ready for mass. Gordo just tried to stay out of the way. Standing in the living room, waiting, he kept adjusting his suit.

"Will you stop fidgeting?" Miranda scolded him with a smile as she walked into the room.

"Hey. You feeling any better?" he asked as he watched her walk towards him. She was wearing a simple dark purple dress and a pair of same color heels.

She shrugged, "A little. You?"

"Eh." Gordo reached back to the couch and picked up a wrapped package. "This is for you. Merry Christmas."

Miranda took the package and quickly unwrapped it. They had decided that Miranda would give him his gift during Hanukah and Gordo would give her her gift on Christmas.

She found a burned CD with her favorite songs on it. She smiled at him, "Thank you," she said to him and kissed him.

Gordo smiled too, "I wanted to give you something special but I kinda broke the bank a few weeks ago."

As they started walking towards her room, Miranda glanced at him. "What did you buy?" Walking into her room, she watched Gordo start to get really nervous. "What is it Gordo?"

"I wasn't sure if I wanted to give this to you for Christmas, or for Valentines Day, or your birthday, or even wait till Graduation. I bought it when I first realized that I really loved you, a little bit after Thanksgiving. We were outside, looking through my telescope. I knew you really didn't want to be out there and that you were really cold but you didn't complain about it like you normally would've and it meant a lot to me. That night I was just lying in bed thinking of how cute you looked huddled up in your sweat jacket with the hood up and pulled tight. I realized I didn't want to be with anyone else and I figured that's what love is. When you see a person's faults along with the good stuff, and you don't care and just want to be with them. So I went out and bought this. I know I wanted to give it to you, I just wasn't sure when. Than last night, when we were talking and you told me you loved me too and were stressing over our future, I decided to give it to you. I just wanted to make sure you knew how much you really mean to me," Gordo said as he fidgeted with his hands and bounced slightly.

Miranda grinned; she knew that when Gordo was nervous, he got twitchy and started to bounce around. A part of her was touched at what he was saying and now she really wanted to know what it was that he had spent so much money on.

"Its kinda simple but," Gordo started again but she stopped him.

"Gordo, you're rambling. What is it?"

Taking a deep breath, he reached into a pants pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. Nervously, he handed the box to her.

_"Its too small to be a necklace. Earrings? A ring maybe."_ Opening the box, Miranda gasped and a wide smile broke out on her face. "Its beautiful," she whispered. Inside the box, was a ring; it was a gold band and had a small diamond sphere intertwined with a small aquamarine sphere. The diamond was her birthstone and the aquamarine was his.

Gordo took the box out of her hand and slipped the ring onto her left ring finger. "I hope it fits, I wasn't sure about the size so I used your class ring as a measurement." He paused, stopping himself from rambling anymore and decided to just get to the point. "I just want you to know that I really care about you as a boyfriend and as a best friend. Now matter where we end up, I'll always be there for you no matter what."

Miranda started to tear up a little bit as she heard him. Gordo looked at her nervously but slowly relaxed has she reached out and took his hand. "Gordo." she said softly, "I love it and I love you."

Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around him and started to kiss him. They probably would've gone farther than just kissing but Mrs. Sanchez yelled up at them. "Hija! David! Time to go!"

Miranda pulled back and quickly checked her makeup but kept the huge smile on her face. After making sure everything was all right, she reached out with her left hand. Gordo smiled back and took her hand.

As they walked downstairs hand in hand, Miranda glanced at him. "David." She only used his real name when she was pissed at him or wanted to say something really serious. Gordo looked at her and Miranda continued. "I'll always be there for you too. No matter what."


	7. Decisions And Starting Over

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 7 – Decisions And Starting Over

Miranda drove into the parking lot of the Stone Canyon strip mall. After finding a parking spot and turning the engine off, she sat in her car for a moment. She gazed down at her left hand and smiled. Taking a deep breath, she got out and slowly started walking towards the Lyons Convenience Store.

During Christmas, after Gordo had given her the ring, she had really started to look at their relationship. After a long deliberation, Miranda had finally decided that she wanted to take their relationship to the next level.

What had really synched it was what Gordo had done for Valentines Day a few days ago. While all of their friends had gone out to expensive restaurants and such, Gordo had tried to cook them dinner; he was still trying to financially recover from buying her the ring.

While he ended up burning everything and they had eaten chinese take out, she was more touched by the gesture and not the actual dinner.

Walking into the convenience store, Miranda tried to nonchalantly walk around the store. She really didn't want to draw attention to herself. While she was certain she wanted to do this, it was still a little embarrassing buying condoms. But she had to do this if they wanted to sleep together and Miranda wanted to surprise him on some special day. She just wasn't sure when the day would be.

Reaching the display rack, Miranda looked in surprise at all the different types. Pick up one box, she looked at it, _"Which one am I supposed to choose?"_ Putting the first box back and picking up another one, she turned it over to read the back.

"You might wanna try the blue box to your right," a familiar voice said from behind her.

_"Kate!"_ Throwing the box up in surprise, Miranda jumped a little and spun around. A horrified expression crossed her face as she saw an amused looking Kate catch the box she had just tossed. _"Not her. Anyone but her."_

Kate looked at the box she had just caught for a moment before putting it back. "You wanna sleep with Gordo?" There was no malice in her voice, she wasn't teasing her but just asking a question.

Miranda studied her for a moment, not really sure what to answer. "Yea," she finally said in a low voice.

Kate grinned a little, "I'm not gonna make fun of you." She then reached out and grabbed the box she mentioned before. Handing it to Miranda the box, "In my opinion these are the best," she told her.

Nervously taking the box from her, Miranda looked at the box for a moment and then looked up at Kate cautiously. "Why are you," Miranda started to ask.

"Being nice?" Kate finished. She shrugged, "I know we're not the best of friends, hell I'm not even sure if we really are friends, but I'm not the same person I was. I…umm….want to try and be friends again."

"We are friends," Miranda said.

Kate just shook her head, "No we're not. We just tolerate the other when we hang out and I don't want to do that anymore."

Miranda just looked at her confused for a moment. "Are you serious?"

"Yea, totally. I miss the three of us just hanging out, pigging out, talking. Being popular isn't all its cracked up to be, I miss my real friends," she then smiled, "I also miss us torturing Gordo," she added sarcastically. They both laughed at one memory of them holding Gordo down as Lizzie would kiss him when they were younger.

Kate sobered after a few minutes. "I'm sorry I treated you like crap. I let being popular go to my head. I miss having real friends who'd hang with me no matter what I was."

Miranda smiled a little and nodded in agreement. Kate looked at the ground for a moment, "Do you want to go to lunch?" she asked a little timidly as she slowly looked back up.

Miranda looked at her, she really couldn't believe that Kate was being this sincere. "Sure. I just, uh, I gotta pay for this," she told her as she passed the box back and forth in her hands like it was hot. Kate giggled a little and rolled her eyes as she followed her up to the cashier.

About an hour later, they were sitting in Burger Buddy. "You really serious about Gordo, aren't you?" Kate asked Miranda as they ate.

Miranda nodded as she chewed a bite from her cheeseburger. "I know we've only been dating for like nine months but I can't really see me being with anyone else."

Kate sipped her soda and looked at Miranda with a smile. "You may have only been dating him for nine months but you've known him for like fourteen years. You wanna know something. Everyone knows Lizzie is his first love and all that other crap, but if they hadn't known each other since birth, I really think you two would've gotten together sooner."

Miranda just grinned a little and tried to shrug it off. But when Kate started laughing softly at her reaction, it caused Miranda to blush a little. Kate watched as Miranda looked down at her hand and started to fidget with the ring.

"Have you figured out when you're gonna do it," Kate asked.

"I was kind of thinking his birthday or maybe mine. I really haven't thought about it anymore then I want to," Miranda answered and then looked up at her. "You've done it before. I mean, I just was wondering," she was starting to babble.

Kate just listened to her with a grin, it was amusing to watch the cool and collected Miranda start to get really shy and unsure of herself. "What it's like?" Kate said finished off her question and Miranda nodded. She chuckled softly, "I have done it before but contrary to popular belief it's always been with the same guy." Kate paused and she smiled as she thought about Ethan. "The first couple of times it's really awkward but if it's with the right person, it makes it worth it."

"How do you know if it's the right person?"

Kate grinned at her and reaching out, took Miranda's left hand and brought it up in front of her face. "You just know," she told her.

After they both finished lunch, they sat in silence for awhile, both lost in their own thoughts.

"Kate?" Miranda asked after a few minutes.

"Yea," she answered as she leaned back in her chair.

"Thanks."

Kate looked at her confused and a little surprised, "For what?"

"Well, one, helping me at the store and helping me put some of my big fears aside about sleeping with Gordo. Two, apologizing." She paused for a moment, "Start over?" Miranda said and then reached a hand out.

Kate smiled as she reached out and took it. "Yea."


	8. Out At Home

supergirljen – Thanks for the help on this chapter.

A/N – _"Thoughts__"_

Chapter 8 – Out At Home

Miranda and Lizzie were sitting on one of the couches in the Digital Bean, drinking smoothies and flipping through a couple of fashion magazines. As Miranda sipped her blueberry smoothie and flipped through one of the magazines, Lizzie looked over at her with a smug grin.

"So what are you doing for Gordo's birthday?" Lizzie asked trying not to laugh.

Miranda looked at her to answer but then scowled when she saw the expression on Lizzie's face. "You know, don't you?" she said.

Lizzie nodded as she was trying hard not to laugh in her face. "Kate told me." Miranda rolled her eyes and Lizzie couldn't hold it in anymore. "Don't worry, I'm the only one she told. She thought I knew."

Miranda shook her head. "We're gonna do the group thing next weekend." Since Lizzie's birthday was a little bit over a week after Gordo's, they went out as a group the weekend after Gordo's birthday to celebrate both. "But on his birthday, I'm taking him out to the movies and then dinner."

Lizzie picked up the magazine that Miranda put down. "What about after dinner?" Lizzie teased.

Miranda grumbled a little and scowled at her best friend as she put the magazine down. Turning to face her, "Can we talk about something else?"

Lizzie smirked and nodded. "So what are you getting Gordo for his birthday?" she asked, serious this time.

Miranda's scowl slowly turned into a grin, "I got him a Frank Sinatra's greatest hits CD."

"He'll love that."

"Yea," Miranda said after taking another sip of her drink. "We saw it a few weeks ago and Gordo really wanted to buy it but he's still recovering from the ring, so he couldn't. Next day, I went back and bought it." Miranda then snickered, "We went back together like a week later, after Gordo had begged and borrowed the money. We walk into the store and immediately went to where we saw it. You should've seen his face when he saw it wasn't there. It was so cute. He looked so disappointed, it took all of my control not to tell him I bought it."

Then an evil smile spread across Miranda's face, "So what are you and Mark gonna do for your birthday?" she asked.

Mark Jackson had asked Lizzie out for Valentines Day and they had been dating since. "He's taking me out to dinner," Lizzie answered a little shyly and Miranda laughed as she turned the tables on her.

A few days later, Gordo's birthday, Miranda and Gordo were standing on the Sanchez's porch. They had gone to the movies, but Gordo barely even remembered the title of the movie, and had gone to diner, which Gordo remembered even less about.

"You enjoy your birthday?" Miranda asked with a smirk. She knew he really wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. He was looking at her but his mind was elsewhere, and Miranda knew exactly where Gordo's mind was.

She was wearing a blue sleeveless top with a plunging neckline underneath a sheer dark blue blouse, a tight black skirt that fell to right above her knees, and a pair of calf high, heeled, black boots. The only jewelry she had on was a silver necklace with the music pendant and the Christmas ring.

Looking into his eyes, Miranda grinned because she knew where he was looking. It wasn't entirely his fault, she had set him up again. She wasn't exactly trying to seduce him but if it happened, she wasn't totally against it. Last night, she finally had come to the decision that tonight was the night.

"Gordo," she said to him as she clapped her hands in front of his face.

Gordo snapped out of his daze and his face immediately went bright red. "Sorry," he mumbled as he looked down at the ground for a moment.

"You know you've been spacing out all night, just staring at me." Miranda tried hard not to smile as she talked.

"I'm really sorry Rand. You put this great night together and I loved the cd. I'm sorry that I've been acting like an idiot," Gordo mumbled an apology.

Miranda bit her lip, _"You're not acting like an idiot, you're acting your age you __dofus__. You're acting like a teenage boy."_ She cupped his chin with one hand and lifted his head up so he was looking into her eyes. "I just have one question," she paused for a moment, "See anything you like?" she said as a smile spread across her face.

She almost burst out laughing when Gordo's eyes went wide and his mouth just dropped open in surprise. Miranda stepped forward, pressed herself against him, and started kissing him. After a minute, Gordo's surprise wore off and he started to kiss her back as he slipped his arms around her waist.

As they continued making out, Miranda wrapped one arm around his neck and with the other hand, slipped her fingers into the waistband of his pants. Gordo jumped a little as she touched him there but Miranda kept their lips in contact.

After making out for a few minutes, they broke apart only for the need of air. As Gordo gasped for air, he looked at her with a mix of shock and desire. As Miranda gasped too, she looked at him with a smug smile.

"You set me up again," Gordo said with a small grin and Miranda couldn't help but giggle a little. "Remind me to never play poker with you," he said.

"Why have you never asked me to take things further?" Miranda said, the smile temporally disappearing.

"I don't want to push you into something you're not ready for. I can wait for as long as you want to take that step. I kinda figured you let me know when you were ready."

Miranda smiled at him and traced his cheek with her fingertips. _"That was sweet."_ Letting out a deep breath, she kissed him and then pulled back, "What if I said I was ready."

"I…I…" Gordo babbled at first but then shook his head. "Are you sure?" Miranda nodded and took his hand. Taking her keys out of her night bag, she unlocked the door and led them inside.

Her parents had gone out to dinner and their Aunt was babysitting Gabby at her home for the night.

Quietly walking into the house they had just reached the stairs when they were busted. "Miranda," Mrs. Sanchez called from the living room.

Jumping a little in surprise, Miranda pressed a finger to his lips and hid Gordo against the wall just outside the archway to the living room. Standing in the archway, "You're home. I wasn't expecting you to be back for a few hours."

Mrs. Sanchez, who was sitting on the couch reading a book, looked up at her daughter with arched eyebrows. "Hello David," she said and smiled as Miranda cursed under her breath. "Gordo, come here too."

Gordo walked into the archway and looked at her with a sheepish grin, "Hi Mrs. Sanchez."

"I think its time you went home for the night," Mrs. Sanchez told him. Gordo nodded, knowing Mrs. Sanchez meant business.

"I'll see you later," he said to Miranda and kissed her cheek before he left.

"Hija."

"Sí mama?"

Mrs. Sanchez got up and led them into the kitchen. "You were going to sleep with him, weren't you?"

"There is noth," Miranda started but Mrs. Sanchez held up a hand stopping her.

"I just want to make sure you're thinking clearly," Mrs. Sanchez said as they sat at the kitchen table. "You've only been dating for a few months."

"Ten months," Miranda corrected her. "We may only have been dating ten months but I've known him since I was a little. I love him."

Mrs. Sanchez studied her for a moment. "I don't doubt you hija. I just don't want both of you to do something you'll regret later."

Miranda just nodded. "How did you know?"

"I noticed your outfit when you left and then I saw you on the porch."

Miranda blushed a little, embarrassed, as her mother told her.

"How do you know you love him?"

Miranda contemplated the question for a moment before responding, "I…There's just this connection between us. It's like, I know that he's the one I want to be with. Sure, he can get annoying and preachy and the fights we get into sometimes can get vicious, but that's just part of him. Another part is how vulnerable and romantic he can be. Despite his attempts to hide it from everyone else, he shares that with me. Its hard to explain but he makes me feel special. We could be mad at each other but if I need him, he'd be there no questions asked. I know he'll always be there for me, even if we're not together. I trust him, no matter what anyone says, I know he'd never try to hurt me. We may forget that sometimes but we remember quickly. I guess, what I'm trying to say is if can feel this for someone because of their flaws and not despite them, it must be love…right?" Miranda smirked to herself, _"He really is wearing off on me."_

Mrs. Sanchez suppressed a smile, _"Even though, they're still young and I just don't want to see them make any mistakes. As much as I want them to wait, it's not my decision. Besides I can't think of anyone better for her than Gordo."_ Standing up, she walked to her and kissed the top of my head. "Just be careful mi nińa."


	9. Insecurities

Abuhin – They'll get into their pasts in an upcoming chapter, probably Chapter 11.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_ , (English Translation)

Chapter 9 – Insecurities

Miranda stormed out of Eric Kellogg's house and started walking away down the street. Behind her, inside the house, a party was raging but Miranda was in a blind rage and couldn't hear the music or the other people.

"No puedo creer que casi dormí con ese cerdo estúpido. ¡Nadie me dice qué hacer, charla de I'll a quienquiera el infierno que deseo! He's consiguió un problema con eso, él puede encontrar a una nueva novia. Debo golpear su asno con el pie de mierda, (I can't believe I almost slept with that stupid pig. No one tells me what to do, I'll talk to whoever the hell I want! He's got a problem with that, he can find a new girlfriend. I should kick his fucking ass,)" she muttered as she started walking away from the house.

"Miranda!" Gordo yelled at her as he followed her outside.

Miranda spun around and glared at her boyfriend, "What the hell were you thinking?" she yelled back at him as she gestured wildly with her hands.

"Me!" Gordo stopped a few feet away from her. "You're the one who was flirting with him!"

"I was not flirting with him!" she roared, "I was talking to him until you came over and started acting like a jerk!"

"I was not acting like a jerk!"

"Bull. You would've tried to beat him up if I hadn't walked out," Miranda snarled as she walked up to him, rage burning in her eyes.

"Heaven forbid I don't want someone flirting with my girlfriend," Gordo snapped back.

"We weren't flirting!" she yelled again.

"I know how you act when you flirt and you were defiantly flirting."

Miranda let out a frustrated growl, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"We've known each other for almost fourteen years and I know you, especially how you act around a guy you're interested in. You start babbling and twirling your hair." Gordo was clenching and unclenching his fists in aggravation. While Miranda and Gordo's relationship had changed and grown, one thing remained constant, their fights. When the two of them fought, things got ugly fast. "How do you think that makes me feel?"

She knew he was right about how she acted but it wasn't intentional and she was also too angry to admit it. "How the hell do you think it makes me feel when I catch you looking at Kate! Hell, what about when you look at Lizzie!"

Gordo opened his mouth but couldn't think of anything to say. Miranda glared at him, "That's what I thought. When you stop acting like a fucking Neanderthal, then maybe we can talk. Until then, leave me the hell alone!" she yelled at him before walking away.

His jaw clenched and twitched in irritation as Gordo watched her walk away. Jamming his hand into his pocket, he fished his keys and walked towards his car, mumbling to himself.

Miranda had made it about a block away from the party, when a car drove up to her and slowed down. She knew who it was but wasn't going to acknowledge him.

"Miranda," Gordo called as he let the car slowly roll down the street. Not responding, Gordo tried hard to keep his temper in check. "Damn it Miranda. Get in, at least let me drive you home."

"Fuck off," Miranda said through clenched teeth as she kept right on walking and facing forward.

"Fine. Then I'm just gonna do this all the way to your house. Pissed off or not, I'm not letting you walk home alone at night." Hill Ridge was a lot safer than say someplace like Los Angeles but it still wasn't smart for a girl, or really anyone, to be walking alone at night, especially angry and not paying attention to there surroundings.

After another few blocks, Miranda swore under her breath and stopped. She didn't want to but it would take her over an hour to get home like this and her legs would be killing her if she tried to walk that far in her platforms. Gordo stopped next to her and without either saying anything, Miranda roughly opened the passenger door. After getting in, she slammed the door shut.

Gordo drove them to Miranda's house without either saying a word. As Gordo pulled up in front of Miranda's house, she didn't jump right out like he was expecting. In fact, she just sat there looking down at her lap. Gordo wasn't sure if she was waiting for something or lost in her own thoughts.

"We're here," he said softly. Miranda just grunted but still didn't move. Gordo sighed sadly, "I'm sorry."

Miranda slowly looked up and over at him, "What?" she asked softly. For the first time since their argument, her words didn't have any edge to them.

Gordo looked over at her, "I'm sorry." Miranda titled her head and looked at him questioningly. "For hurting you. If me looking at Lizzie or any other girl makes you feel like I did tonight, I'm sorry."

"Get out," Miranda said as she got out of the car. Gordo sat there a little stunned and confused but eventually got out. Miranda walked to the back of the car and hopped up onto the car's trunk and looked down the street. Miranda watched Gordo stand in front of her a few feet away. "Come here," she said motioning next to her.

"Miranda I don't think,"

"Come here." This time it came out as an order, she wasn't in the mood to play around.

Taking a deep breath, Gordo hopped up next to her, "I didn't even know you noticed when I did it. I don't try to ogle her or any other girl, its kinda like on instinct."

"I didn't even realize I was doing what I was doing tonight until after you said something," Miranda said after a few minutes of silence. "I didn't mean to hurt you either but I got really mad because you didn't trust me."

"I do trust you, its just I'm scarred that someday you'll open your eyes and realize what you're dating." Before Miranda could say something, Gordo continued. "I mean you're gorgeous and you could get any guy you want but you're stuck with me."

Miranda looked over at him and put her hand over his, "I'm not stuck with you, I want to be with you."

"Oh come on, that guy was like twice my size, built like a freakin house, and could probably bench press me," Gordo said as he looked down at the ground.

"David," Miranda said softly and with her other hand made him look at her. "And you're ten times smarter than that guy will ever be." She then grinned at him, "You also make me laugh."

Gordo snickered, "Yea that's something to be proud of."

"It is," Miranda told him, "It's easy to find someone you're attracted to, but it's hard to find someone who also makes you smile and laugh." Miranda smiled as she watched Gordo trying to fight back a smile. "Come on Gordo, smile, please." she pleaded in a little girl voice.

He couldn't hold back anymore, letting out a laugh, he smiled. "We alright?' Gordo asked her.

Miranda kissed his check as she moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Yea."

Gordo slipped an arm around her waist, hugging her to his side, and looked at the night sky. Both content to just sit together quietly neither really had anything else to say and both just wanted to enjoy the moment.


	10. Turnabout Is Fairplay

PinkPrincess – Thanks for the offer. My spanish is horrible so I use an online translator, but I know that it isn't 100 accurate. Another reason why I put the english translation too. I have a question for you on another story I'm writing but I'm not sure about your email address. Do you still use the address that's in your profile?

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 10 – Turnabout Is Fairplay

Miranda laid on her stomach ontop of her bed and was flipping through a Sports Illustrated. Her head was propped up with one hand and her other hand was absentmindedly playing with Gordo's hair as he sat on the floor next to the bed brainstorming ideas for his next project. For Miranda, playing with Gordo's hair had become a weird but additive way to calm herself.

It had been about two months since the birthday incident and tomorrow was Miranda's birthday but they had agreed that nothing would happen beyond a little making out.

Closing the magazine, Miranda straightened her arm and laid her head down. "Gordo," she softly called as she wrapped one of his curls around her finger.

"Hmm," he said without looking up from his notepad.

With a small smile, she tugged at his hair causing Gordo to wince slightly. Looking over his shoulder, he gave her an irritated look.

"What are you getting me for my birthday?" she asked sweetly.

Gordo's face softened and he tried not to laugh, "I'm not telling you. You'll get it tomorrow."

Shifting her position, she slid her hands down Gordo's neck and into the collar of his shirt, and carefully balancing herself on the edge of the bed, she started to kiss his ear. "Please," she whispered.

Gordo growled softly, "I hate it when you do this."

Miranda giggled as she started kissing down his cheek and then to his lips. Gordo reached a hand up and gently held the back of Miranda's head, helping support it.

A cough from the doorway interrupted them. Breaking away, Miranda rolled over and sat up and Gordo moved so he was now kneeling next to the bed.

Mrs. Sanchez stood in the doorway watching them, trying very hard to suppress a smile and remain in mom mode. "Lizzie called. She'll be over in a hour to pick you up to go shopping."

Miranda looked confused for a moment, "The phone rang?"

Mrs. Sanchez smirked, "Yes it did. You were probably a little too distracted to notice," she said sarcastically. "Just remember the rules," she said as she walked away.

When they had first started going out, both parents had set down rules for the new couple. For Gordo, they were the same rules he had gotten with Lizzie. No being in the house alone with each other, bedroom doors must remain open, etc. But after the birthday incident, the rules had become more strict and they came under more scrutiny. It seemed like every few minutes a parent was passing by when they were in the other's house, even at the McGuires.

"You're lucky," Miranda said to Gordo with an evil smile. Gordo just grinned at her.

"You going prom shopping?" Gordo asked as he put his notebook into his bookbag.

"Yea."

"I thought you had everything?" Gordo asked standing up.

"I do but Lizzie is freaking out about her shoes," Miranda said while rolling her eyes. "I'm not just going with a date, he's my boyfriend now. Everything has to be perfect," Miranda said as she tried to mimic Lizzie.

"Was she like this when she dated me?"

Miranda rolled her eyes, "Worse."

Gordo laughed at her and Miranda grinned up at him. "Must be nice already having a date this time," Gordo teased.

"Defiantly," Miranda shot back. "He's the perfect guy. My date is gonna be a hundred times better than any little whore you bribed into being your date," she said laughing softly.

"Please. My date could be a model and will blow yours out of the water." By now they were both cracking up.

"If she's so beautiful, I feel sorry for her having to lower herself to going with someone like you."

"That's it," Gordo said and dove ontop of Miranda. Miranda tried her best to wiggle free but Gordo had her pinned and as he started tickling her, Miranda started laughing hysterically and tried to tickle him back.

Another cough from the doorway interrupted them again. Both looked up to see Mr. Sanchez glaring at them, or specifically at Gordo.

As Gordo rolled off and Mr. Sanchez walked away, they started laughing again. "I don't think he likes me anymore," Gordo joked.

"Well you did try to sleep with his little girl."

"You tried to seduce me."

Miranda arched an eyebrow, "Tried?" she said sarcastically. "Baby, I had you eating out of my hand." Turning, Miranda looked at the time on her alarm clock, "Damn. I gotta get ready." Jumping off the bed, Miranda started to walk towards the bathroom, "I'll be right back." Gordo nodded and sat down at her desk.

Miranda's cell phone started going off and from halfway down the hall, Miranda yelled back, "Gordo! Can you answer that please."

"Sure," he yelled back. Picking up the small purple phone, "Hello."

"Hello. This is the Regents Hotel and I'm looking for a Mrs. Miranda Sanchez," a female voice said on the other end.

Gordo looked out the window confused for a moment, _"Why is a hotel calling for Miranda."_ "She's unavailable at the moment, can I take a message," he said.

"Yes. We just wanted to let her know that we were able to get the room she requested."

Gordo was now really curious and decided to play along. "Oh yes. This is her boyfriend." _"Miranda's planning a surprise for prom night,"_ he thought with a smile. Then an idea suddenly hit him, "I'd like to make a special request for the room."

"Of course," As Gordo made his request, the hotel was more than happy to do it.

"Thank you. Oh and one more thing. I'd like it to be a surprise, so if you could, can you call back in like five minutes with the same message, just leave out me and the surprise."

"Certainly sir."

"Thank you. Goodbye," Gordo said as he hung up the phone.

A minute later Miranda walked into the room, "Who was it?"

Gordo shrugged and told her, "Wrong number." Walking over, he kissed her, "I'll talk to ya later. Have fun."

"I should have the rest of the prom details by tonight. I call ya later," Miranda said and then kissed him again, "Bye Gordo."

As Gordo walked down the hall and reached the stairs, he heard Miranda's cell phone go off again. Smiling to himself, he started walking down the stairs. _"I shall have my revenge,"_ he joked to himself with a laugh as he walked out of the house.


	11. Senior Skip Day

Abuhin – Your questions will finally be answered, lol.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 11 – Senior Skip Day

The Friday after Miranda's birthday was Senior Skip Day, so the group decided to spend the day at the beach. Since it was a weekday, the beach was basically deserted with the exception of a few vacationers and some people with small children.

Lizzie and Miranda were sitting on their blankets watching their boyfriends, who were hitting a volleyball back and forth with Ethan and Kate a little ways out in the water. Turning her head, Lizzie looked at Miranda, "You still going with your little surprise?"

"Yea," Miranda said without taking her eyes off the guys, Gordo in particular. "That afternoon, before we get our hair done, I'm gonna drop his car off, saying I'm dropping it off at school, and drop off a change of clothes for both of us in the room. I'm not sure yet but probably right after last dance, I'm gonna surprise him with the room and we'll head up."

"How are you gonna get his clothes?"

"A few days before, I'm gonna go over to his house when he's not there and tell his parents I'm missing something and I think I left it in his room. I'll go up with my bookbag and grab them."

After shaking her head a little, Lizzie grinned at her, "You sure you wanna do this?"

"Yea I do," Miranda said looking over at her. "I really think it's time to take the next step. Kate told me its awkward but with the right guy its so worth it. There's no doubt in my mind that Gordo is the right guy."

"So you're gonna make our little Gordo a man," Lizzie joked and they both started cracking up.

Suddenly a loud shriek grabbed their attention and looking over they watched Larry carrying Claire over his shoulder towards the water.

"Put me down Larry!" Claire yelled at her now boyfriend. Lizzie and Miranda were now laughing hysterically.

Larry walked out into the water a little ways, and then when he was deep enough, he just fell forward, sending Claire and him underwater. Immediately, Claire stood up and pulled her wet hair back out of her face. She was angry and an evil smile spread across her face. The second Larry came back up, Claire tackled him and they started wrestling.

Lizzie stood up, "I'm gonna go in the water, you coming?"

"In a minute." Miranda watched Lizzie walk down the beach and Gordo walk out of the water. As they passed each other, Lizzie said something to him and Gordo blushed a little and grinned as he said something back.

"Hey beautiful," Gordo said as he squatted in front of her.

"How's my little fish?" Miranda teased.

Gordo grinned, "He'd be a lot better if you'd come in too."

Miranda nodded and he watched her stand up. She was wearing a dark gray one piece with a light gray waist wrap.

Taking off the wrap from around her waist, she looked at Gordo who was still squatting and looking down at the ground. "You coming Gordo?" she asked walking away a few steps.

"Give me a minute," was all he said, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Miranda looked at him confused for a moment but then suddenly realized what was happening. Walking back to him and bending down behind him, "Did I wake little Gordo up?" she whispered into his ear seductively.

"Not helping," Gordo growled.

Miranda giggled as she leaned in and started to kiss his neck while running her hands across his chest.

Gordo let out a frustrated growl, "Run."

Letting out an excited yell, Miranda literally jumped away from him. She immediately started running towards the water, laughing all the way. Gordo spun around and took off, sprinting full speed after her. Just as they reached the waters edge, Gordo tackled Miranda into the water.

Miranda quickly got back up and tried to get away from Gordo's grasp but he scooped her up, walked a little farther in and then tossed her back into the water.

They spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach, playing around on the beach and in the water. On there way back home, they stopped to get ice cream. As they sat around the ice cream shop, the larger group split into smaller groups of two, the couples.

As Gordo sipped his milkshake, he smiled as he watched Miranda devouring her sundae. Glancing a few tables over, he watched Larry and Claire for a few minutes. He grinned a little as he watched the couple. He was really surprised that they were still going out and that they seemed to be happy. Gordo was glad his friend had found somebody and Claire really seemed to care about him.

When they all hung out as a group, Claire really didn't say anything and just kept to herself. But when they were off by themselves, it was really evident that Claire really liked him. She was seriously trying to stop being such a bitch and saying things behind people's backs.

One night after a party, Gordo was giving Claire a ride home when she told him something that really stuck with him. _"When I realized I'd fallen for Larry, I couldn't understand it. But someone told me, you can't control who you fall in love with. I knew if I wanted to even have a shot at Larry, I had to try and be nice. At first I thought it was gonna be impossible but I realized that if I had a reason to change, it makes the change a lot easier."_

Gordo looked back at Miranda and he tried to fight back a laugh. Miranda was licking her spoon and had a huge smile on her face; she looked like a little girl in complete bliss.

Miranda looked back at him confused, "What?" she asked putting the spoon down

Shaking his head, he laughed, "Nothing." Smiling, he continued to look at her. "Can I ask you something?"

Putting down her spoon, "Of course."

"Uh…How far have you ever, umm, gone…with a guy?" he stumbled over his words. He watched her eyes go wide, like he stumbled into something, but she quickly wiped the look off of her face.

"Umm, the farthest I've gone is second base," Miranda said, as she talked her voice cracked slightly. "I've only really had one other serious boyfriend and there's no way in hell, I'm doing something that intimate with someone I'm just casually dating." When Gordo started chuckling under his breath at the image of Miranda and Larry making out, she glared at him and then an evil smile spread across her face. "Ok big shot, what about you?"

Suddenly Gordo started choking for a moment and Miranda watched in amusement as the tips of Gordo's ears turned red. "Well…we…uhh…"

"Come on Romeo. How far did you and Lizzie ever get?" she asked with a smirk playing on her lips.

Letting out a breath, he ran a hand through his hair. "Third base."

While she had teased him and at first was curious, actually hearing it, she wasn't sure weather to smile or throw up. Trying hard to push the mental image aside, "Gordo, if we hadn't gotten interrupted on your birthday, would we have really gone all the way?"

"Truthfully?" Gordo asked and Miranda nodded, "I would love to sleep with you but like I said that night, you call the shots. We'll only go as far as you're ready for."

Miranda leaned over and kissed him. "Promise me one thing."

"Sure."

"We'll never go into detail about our other experiences again, ok?" she said seriously and then quickly added, "I don't think my stomach can handle any of the details of how you and Lizzie got busy."

"Oh, as opposed to you and Tudgeman," he teased back and they both started cracking up.

A little later; as Gordo drove back home with Miranda, he glanced over at her. He grinned as he saw her asleep with her head resting against her seatbelt. _"Poor girl wore herself out today,"_ he joked to himself.

He knew Miranda was stressing over her college acceptances and he tried to get her mind off it, if just for a day. In addition to getting accepted, they were both worried about what would happen to them. Especially if they did end up going to school on opposite coasts.

Gordo knew it be hard but he was also very willing to at least try and make it work. He cared about Miranda and their relationship too much to just give up on her and it. There'd be no one he could ever met that would relate to him like she did.

His love for her wasn't some teenager lust but the real thing. He wasn't really sure if he was in love with Lizzie, he defiantly cared deeply for her but he wasn't sure if he'd call it real love. But with Miranda, he knew. _"Love isn't so much about age but the people involved."_


	12. The Night

Gordo's surprise is a little corny but its something I think he'd do for her.

hockeylover – Thanks for the help with the Miranda's appearance.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 12 – The Night

As Miranda sat at their table talking to Lizzie and Veruca, Gordo smiled as he stood a few feet away watching her. She looked absolutely amazing and he was really looking forward to later tonight, no matter how far it went.

Miranda's dress was dark purple and sleeveless. The top was form fitting while the skirt was flowing and fell to about mid-calf; it had a high waist line, and the upper half had soft blue flowers printed that were nearly unnoticeable against the dark background. Along with the dress, she had found a matching pair of purple heels. She had her hair up in the back on top of her head in a bun, and some strands of hair that she left out to be curled that framed her face. She had a pair of her own diamond earring that her mother had given her for her eighteenth birthday and the only other jewelry she had was the familiar silver necklace with music note pendant and the ring he had given her for Christmas.

As Veruca was talking, Miranda glanced over and smiled at him as he caught her eye. Miranda said something to Veruca and Lizzie, then got up and walked over to him. "Having fun?" Miranda asked as she slipped her arms around his waist and gave him a light kiss.

Gordo gave her a small grin, "Its alright, though I gotta say I have the most attractive date here."

Miranda smiled at him, "Thanks."

Gordo then snickered, "Yea. I guess I'll hang out with you until she gets back," he joked.

As he laughed, Miranda let go of him and backhanded him in the chest. "Jerk," she said while turning around and folding her arms across her chest.

Gordo continued to grin as he wrapped his arms around her, "I'm sorry baby," he whispered in her ear while trying not to laugh. "Please forgive me."

"Beg," Miranda ordered him, trying to fight the smile tugging at her lips.

To her amusement and a little surprise, Gordo turned Miranda around and then dropped to his knees. Holding her hands, he looked up at her, "Please forgive me," he pleaded, and to add to the effect, he stuck out his bottom lip.

Miranda couldn't hold back anymore and started laughing as she pulled him up to his feet. Gordo brushed his pants off and smiled at her as she laughed. "You're lucky you're cute." she told him.

"And you're beautiful," Gordo said seriously as he stepped into her and gave her a peck on the nose.

As the DJ announced last song, Gordo lead Miranda out onto the dance floor. Wrapping their arms around each other's waist they slowly swayed to the music and Miranda gently put her forehead against his.

"Can you believe we've survived one year together?" Miranda asked him.

Gordo snickered, "Barely," he joked. "Seriously, there's no one else I want to be with," he said as he smiled at her.

Miranda smiled back, closed the remaining gap between them and rested the side of her head against his. "Me too."

As the song ended, Miranda led them back to the table to gather her wrap and night bag. As they walked back, he watched Miranda slowly get nervous and he tried his best to hide the smile tugging at his lips.

"So are we going to Kate's party?" Gordo asked trying to play innocent.

Gathering her stuff, Miranda turned to look at him, "I…ummm…I," she paused and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. _"Take a deep breath. It isn't like this is the first time you've tried to do this. Its Gordo, you love him, and you defiantly want to do this with him."_ She turned to him and looked into his eyes, "I have a surprise for you."

"Oh?" Gordo said trying to appear surprised.

"You know how we've been talking about taking the next step," she said as fidgeted with her handbag. Miranda waited for Gordo to nodded before continuing, "I got us a room," Miranda said in a rush.

Gordo grinned as she blushed a little. "Rand, if you don't want to," he started to say.

Miranda took his hand and became more confident, "No. I want to do this. I don't know why I'm getting so embarrassed about this." Leading them through the ballroom of the hotel and into lobby of the hotel.

As they waited for the elevator, Gordo watched Miranda start to fidget with her bag again. Giving her hand a gentle squeeze, Miranda looked at him with a small smile. As the elevator finally arrived, they got in and Miranda leaned back against him.

"You don't think this is too cliché right? I mean us having sex for the first time on prom night," Miranda asked him nervously.

"Not really. We're also celebrating our one-year anniversary. And who says we have to have our first time tonight? I just want to be with you, we can do has much or as little as you want," Gordo said hugging her to his chest.

"I hate it when you get all enlightened on me. When a normal teenage guy gets offered sex he'll do anything to get it," Miranda said, partially joking and a little serious.

After the elevator dropped them off, the couple slowly walked down the hall, hand in hand. Miranda knew she wanted to do this but was nervous and a little anxious about actually doing it.

"Ready?" Gordo asked her as she stood in front of the door.

Miranda nodded as she put the electronic key in the lock and opened the door. Gordo let Miranda walk in first.

Miranda walked into the room a few steps and then just came to a dead stop. Looking around in astonishment, "What the hell?" Miranda yelled in surprise and confusion. The room wasn't the same way she had left it earlier today.

A lopsided grin appeared on Gordo's face as he walked in, closed the door, and stood behind her. "You like?" he whispered to her.

Miranda spun around fast to face him, her face showing the surprise she felt. "Who? What? How? Why?"

"I believe that leaves where," Gordo joked.

Miranda slapped him in the arm, "You did this?" she asked in disbelief. She knew Gordo had a romantic side but she never expected something like this. Gordo nodded in answer to her question.

The room held numerous vases of flowers scattered throughout the room and on the bed was bouquet of white tulips, her favorites. "You remember the day before your birthday, the hotel called to confirm."

"Yea. But how did you find out about it?" Miranda asked confused.

"That was who called when you told me to answer it. Well, after you setting me up at the pool game and my birthday, I decided to return the favor. I asked them to do this, I wanted to do something special for you." As Gordo finished, Miranda quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard.

A few minutes later, Gordo watched with a smile as Miranda, after putting her stuff down on the table, slowly walked around the room looking at all the flowers. Finally reaching the bed, she picked up the bouquet of tulips and brought them to her nose and deeply inhaled their scent. She let out a low squeal and her smile grew.

Putting the bouquet in a vase already set up on the nightstand, Miranda looked at Gordo. "David," she practically purred.

Hearing her call his name, his real name, sent a shiver down his spine. He watched as she slowly walked towards him with a look of want in her eyes.

Slipping her arms around his waist underneath his jacket, she kissed him again passionately. Pulling back, "I love you."

"I love you too." Gordo told her back. "Do you like your surprise?"

Miranda nodded and then gave him an evil smile. Letting go of his waist, she took his hand and led him over to the bed. As they started to kiss again, they slowly dropped onto the bed.

She had been nervous before but after seeing what Gordo did for her, any nervousness left her and Miranda knew she wanted to be with Gordo tonight.

As morning came, Miranda slowly opened her eyes. She was way too comfortable and her body did not want to wake up. With her back snuggled up against Gordo's side and her head resting on Gordo's shoulder, Miranda smiled as she felt Gordo's arm flex a little around her.

_"Kate was right. With the right guy, it is so worth it."_

Slowly and carefully, so not to wake him, Miranda turned over and smiled as she looked at his face. Gordo had this peaceful expression on his face and his lips were curled up into a small smile as he slept. Slipping an arm underneath him, she draped her other arm over his chest and put her head back down. Slowly closing her eyes, Miranda fell back asleep in her Gordo's arms.


	13. College

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 13 – College

It was about eleven o'clock on a Saturday morning and Gordo was were most teenagers were on a Saturday morning, asleep. As he laid curled up under his covers, Miranda came rushing into the room.

"Gordo!" she yelled excitedly as she dove on top of him.

Grunting as she landed on him, "Damn it Miranda. If you wanted some, you're supposed to crawl under the covers, not literally jump on me," Gordo joked as he slowly sat up, rubbing his ribs.

Miranda laughed as she rolled off him and sat up next to him. "They came," she said excitedly.

"What came?" he asked slowly waking up.

"My acceptance letters," she told him as she spread out four letters on the bed in front of them. She had already been accepted to USC, UCLA, and Boston College, and was on the waiting list for Columbia.

Gordo watched Miranda stare at them for a few minutes. He could tell she was nervous but he was getting impatient. "Open them," he urged her.

Miranda smiled at him and grabbed one of the envelopes. "Berkley." she said aloud reading from the envelope. Taking a deep breath, she opened the letter. After reading it, she smiled and pumped her fist, "I got in."

Gordo grabbed the next letter, "Stanford," he said handing it to her.

Taking the letter and opening it, she read it, "I got in," she said, her voice expressing her relief.

"Congratulations," he said as he kissed the side of her head. "Where are the other two from?" he asked curiously.

Grabbing one, "This one's from Brown," she said as she gathered the courage to open it, Brown was one of her top choices.

"Come on, open it. They'd be stupid not to let you in," Gordo said to her, snapping her out of her daze.

Tearing it open, she started smiling as she read the letter. "I got in!" she yelled excitedly and wrapping her arms around Gordo's neck, she kissed him. The kiss instantly deepened and using her around his neck, pulled herself into his lap an deepened the kiss. As they made out, the letter slipped from her fingers as she started to forget about everything else around them.

Pulling slightly apart Gordo pressed his forehead against her's. Looking away for a moment, Gordo noticed the last letter. "What's the last one?" he asked breathlessly.

"Last one?" Miranda asked confused for a moment, she had completely forgotten about it. Reluctantly tearing herself away from his eyes, she looked over and saw the last envelope. "Oh." Reaching out, she grabbed it.

For a moment, she stared at the envelope. Slowly looking up at him, "You'd say Harvard is one of the toughest schools to get into right?" she asked as she toyed with the envelope.

"Yea, I suppose. Why?" Gordo was wondering what she was getting at.

"Do you think I could get in?" Miranda asked him while looking down at the letter in her hands.

"Sure, I…" Gordo started but stopped when he realized what she meant. _"Did she…"_ "Did you apply to Harvard?" he asked motioning towards the letter.

"Yea," she answered softly, a little unsure of her decision to do so.

"Open it," Gordo encouraged her again with a smile.

Miranda looked at him for a moment and then started to open the envelope. She slowly pulled the letter out and held it. Gordo could tell she was nervous; wrapping his arms around her waist, "Open it," he whispered in her ear.

Taking a deep breath, she unfolded the letter and started reading, "Dear Miss Sanchez. We are happy to inform you that you have been accepted to Harvard University for the 2007 fall semester." As she read her voice got louder and by the end she was yelling excitedly. _"I got in? I can't believe it. I got in,"_ she thought to herself in disbelief as she stared at the letter.

Miranda's reread the letter almost three times before it really sunk in. "I got in!" she shouted.

Gordo suddenly picked her up and jumped up to his feet on his bed. Hugging her, "Congratulations."

As he hugged her, Miranda started to jump excitedly in Gordo's arms. Quickly loosing their balance, their feet slipped out from under them and Miranda landed on top of Gordo as they crashed back down on the bed.

Grinning, Miranda hovered her face just over his. "I wanna celebrate."

"Oh," Gordo said grinning back, "And what exactly do you want to do?" he asked, his voice taking on a husky tone and the wolfish grin emerging. Miranda said nothing but gave him an evil smile as she lowered her lips to his.

After making out again, Miranda was laying on Gordo's chest with his arms wrapped around her. As they laid in silence, it gave Miranda some time to really think. She needed to decide what she wanted to do and how it'd affect everything around her, namely her relationship with Gordo. After lying there for the rest of the morning, Miranda had finally made a decision about their future. "Gordo," she said. _"I don't know if it work out but this just feels like the best decision for me."_

"Yea?"

Miranda sat up on Gordo's waist and watched him fold his arms underneath his head. "I've decided where I'm gonna go to school." Putting her hands on his chest, "I want to be with you out east but I don't wanna feel like I'm just following you and your life. I want to have my own life too."

"Ok." Gordo cocked his head a little, "So what are you saying?"

"I'm gonna go to Brown. Providence is only about an hour away from Boston. We can still be together and not worry about a long distance relationship but we also can lead our own separate lives."

"Sounds like you've given it a lot of thought," Gordo said.

Miranda nodded, "I just wanna know what you think."

Taking his hands out from behind his head and onto her hips, he looked her in the eyes, "I love you and if this is what'll make you happy, then I'll respect your decision."

_"You were expecting something else?"_ she thought sarcastically to herself and smiled at him. Rolling off, she sat on the edge of the bed. "Get changed and I'll make us some lunch. Then I wanna go tell my parents."

Gordo nodded and rolled off the bed on the other side. As Miranda adjusted her clothes and walked to the doorway, "Rand," Gordo called.

Miranda turned around and looked at him. "Congratulations. Brown is a good school and they're lucky to get you," he said to her.

Miranda grinned at him, "Sweet talk all you want, I'm not gonna rock your world right now," she said sarcastically and giggled softly as Gordo laughed. While Gordo started to gather his jeans and a shirt, Miranda watched him. "Gordo," she waited until he was looking at her, "Thanks."


	14. Graduation

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 14 – Graduation

Miranda sat against Gordo's side on the steps for McGuire's back deck and waited for Lizzie to finish saying goodbye to her boyfriend, Mark. Glancing at Gordo, a small grin played on her lips. He was asleep, his head resting in his hand that was propped up on his knee. _"That boy can sleep anywhere and like, in any position,"_ she joked to herself.

It had been a long day for them. Graduation had been at noon and afterwards, Lizzie's graduation party. It was about ten at night and the party had finally ended. It seemed like at some point or another during the afternoon, everyone from school at the very least had stopped by.

Hearing Lizzie walking back around the corner of the house and towards them, Miranda smirked, "Bout time you two finished. Thought I was gonna have to hose you two down."

Lizzie snickered softly, "Shut up. I'm still trying to get the image of you and Gordo rolling around on your bed outta of my head." They both laughed. "Speaking of Gordo," she said as she sat down on his other side.

Miranda rolled her eyes and then lightly elbowed Gordo in the ribs. Drawing in a sharp breath, Gordo's eyes snapped opened, "What?" he growled slightly irritated and both girls just laughed at their friend.

_"I'm gonna really miss them when they go out east."_ Sighing, "Why can't you guys stay here and go to college?" Lizzie whined softly as she put her head on Gordo's other shoulder.

"Stop whining," Gordo teased, "Kate and Ethan are gonna be there with you and besides I'm sure Mark will keep you busy enough to forget about missing us." he said as he loosely wrapped an around her. While Lizzie and Kate were going to go to UCLA, Ethan and Mark were going USC. Lizzie smirked at him and kicked him in the ankle.

"I'm still gonna miss you guys," Lizzie said.

Miranda looked over at her best friend, "I'm gonna miss you too."

They then both looked at Gordo. "Nope. Not gonna miss you," he said sarcastically. Miranda rolled her eyes and Lizzie pretended to be hurt. Picking her head up, Lizzie moved away from him, folded her arms across her chest and turned to face away from him. Gordo laughed softly and reaching out, grabbed Lizzie around the waist and pulled her back. "You know I'd miss you. Though, I won't miss constantly getting you out of trouble."

"I don't always get into trouble," Lizzie fought back.

"Yes you do," Miranda said.

Lizzie looked over at her and smirked. "Half the time its one of your crazy schemes that get us into trouble." When Gordo laughed Miranda backhanded him in the chest.

"You're supposed to be on my side," Miranda said sarcastically.

"I'm always on your side but it's the truth," Gordo said as he continued to laugh. When Miranda scowled at him, he just laughed harder.

Lizzie smiled as she watched Gordo and Miranda continue to go back and forth, she was really going to miss her two best friends but it was all part of growing up. Besides, just because they'd be on opposite coasts, didn't mean they wouldn't be best friends anymore.

"Lizzie," Mrs. McGuire called from inside, "come inside. I need your help cleaning up."

Rolling her eyes, Lizzie got up. "I gotta go in," she said as Miranda and Gordo followed suit and got up. "We still going to the beach tomorrow?"

"Yea." Miranda said. "You going with Mark or you gonna ride with us?"

As Lizzie started to walk towards the back door, "I'm gonna go with Mark. Besides, with Gordo's parents going out of town tomorrow, I kinda doubt you'll stay at the beach for very long," Lizzie teased with a smug grin.

Miranda took a step to go after her but Gordo quickly wrapped her in a bear hug. "Go inside Lizzie," Gordo sarcastically warned her with a grin. "Come on honey, time to go home."

"Night," Lizzie said as she stayed in the doorway watching them leave around the corner of the house.

As she let Gordo pull her away, she grinned at Lizzie, "I will get you McGuire," Miranda said as she laughed.

"Bring it on Sanchez," Lizzie shot back, laughing too, before going inside.

As they reached the street, Miranda grabbed Gordo's hand and playfully, and started to swing their arms back and forth. Pulling his arm forward, she twirled in front of him, like they were dancing. Gordo chuckled softly as she made two more spins. When she looked back at him with a grin, he couldn't help but grin back as he shook his head.

"So what do you have planned for tomorrow?" she asked suggestively as they walked down the street.

Gordo tried to play innocent, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh," she said, not believing him for a moment, "Than I guess you won't get to see what I bought when I went shopping with Kate last weekend." She smirked and laughed softly as she saw Gordo trying to fight back a lopsided grin. Shopping with Kate, often involved a stop at Victoria's Secret, Kate's favorite store.

"Well in that case, I'm sure I can plan something last minute."

Miranda smirked, "I'm sure you could."

"So you get the job at The Attic?" Gordo asked as they walked down the street. The Attic was a small clothing store in Hill Ridge Mall that Miranda had been shopping at for years

"Yea. I start next week," she told him, "I think its gonna be fun, plus, I get a great discount."

Rolling his eyes, he snickered softly. "You're still coming with me to New York, right?"

In July, Gorgeous was taking Gordo, Miranda, and Lizzie to New York for two weeks, as sort of a graduation gift and to spend some time with her grandson. They were going to spend the first week in New York and then split the final week in Boston and Providence, visiting Brown and Harvard.

"Of course," she told him, "I told them when I took the job I'd be gone for those two weeks. There's nothing that's going to keep me from going to New York."

Miranda than smiled at him, "Would you miss me if I didn't go?" she teased.

Gordo just looked at her for a moment. When Miranda looked at him confused for a moment when he didn't answer, he quickly pulled her against him and gave her a long, deep kiss. Breaking the kiss, Miranda was gasping for breath as she glared at the smug look on his face.

"What do you think?" he asked softly.

"I hate when you do that," she growled at him with a grin. Gordo just laughed and they continued walking down the street. Reaching the Sanchez's porch, they sat down the porch swing, and Miranda started it, so it gently rocked back and forth.

"What do you think college will be like?" Miranda asked him after a few minutes.

Gordo took her hand and gently started to play with her fingers, "More work, harder challenges."

Smirking, Miranda closed her hand around Gordo's and using her fingernails, pricked Gordo's palm. When Gordo winced and glared at her, she just giggled and grinned. "All work and no play makes Gordo an even duller boy."

"That's what I got you around for," he said as he pulled his hand out of her's and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. "To keep my life interesting," he said before kissing the side of her head.

Miranda giggled softly in his arms, "You don't give me much to work with but I do what I can."

Putting her arm along the back of the swing and Miranda started to toy with curls on the back of Gordo's head. He smiled when he heard her let out a content sigh.

"Do you think we'll survive college?"

"Of course. You are one of the smartest people I know. If you find something your really interested in, I know you'll do great."

Miranda looked at him and gave him a weak smile. "Thanks but that's not what I meant."

"Oh," he said and looked at her strangely, "What do you mean then?"

"Us. Do you think we, our relationship, will survive college?" Miranda asked softly.

Gordo reached out and gently stroked her cheek. "I don't know. I know that I love you and I want to be with you but I can't predict the future. We will always be friends and I will always love you, as for our relationship, we'll have to take it a day at a time."

Smirking at him, "You know if this film thing doesn't work out, you could become a philosopher," she teased.

Gordo snickered leaned in, and gently kissed her, "I love you."

"I love you too." Miranda said back. "I should get inside." she then sarcastically added with a smile, "Wanna rest up for tomorrow." Miranda than slowly stood up, "What time are you coming over tomorrow?"

"My parents leave around seven, so maybe around eight or so," Gordo said as he stood up.

Miranda laughed softly, "Just in time for breakfast." Grinning, he just shrugged. Miranda rolled her eyes and just grinned back. After sharing a long goodnight kiss, the porch light turned on, and they both laughed knowing it was a signal from Miranda's parents. "I'll see you tomorrow." she said dejectedly. She didn't want to go inside but if she didn't her parents would come outside. "Night Gordo."

"Night Rand. See you in the morning," Gordo said as he watched her walk away and inside. Stuffing his hands into his short's pockets, he started to walk away towards his house. _"Even if we don't survive college intact, I got this funny feeling, when it counts, we'll be together,"_ Gordo snickered softly, "_Great. Miranda's rubbing off on me,"_ he thought to himself sarcastically as he walked up his driveway and into his house.


	15. Always Be More Than Friends

It's a little sad to see this story end, this and Summer Romance were my favorites to write. Thanks to everyone for the reviews.

tormented soul, hockeylover and supergirljen – Thanks for beta, editing, and general help with this story.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 15 – Always Be More Than Friends

As Gordo walked up the driveway of his parents' house and looked around, in a mix of surprise and a little happiness, he noted how everything seemed to look the same. It was weird being back home, he hadn't been in Hill Ridge for the past two years. _"Since we broke up."_

Sighing, he let his father walk ahead of him and open the front door. After graduating with honors from Harvard, Gordo was moving back west and he had been accepted to USC for graduate school.

Walking inside, he could hear a party going on in the backyard. His mother had insisted on throwing a welcome back party for him. Gordo was pretty sure she would be there. Part of him, wanted to run back to Boston and another part was really curious about how she may have changed in the past two years.

After dragging his luggage up to his room and changing into a t-shirt and shorts, he slowly walked back downstairs. Taking a deep breath, he walked out into the backyard.

As he stood in the backyard, looking around and seeing who was actually here, he heard a familiar voice yell his name. Than suddenly his vision was filled with blonde hair. "Gordo!"

Gordo laughed as Lizzie jumped into his arms and fiercely hugged him. "I missed you," she told him as she was back on her feet.

"I missed you too Liz," he said as he looked her over. Gordo grinned as he realized he was looking at the same old Lizzie, just older. "How's the brand new teacher?" Gordo asked her.

Lizzie had graduated from USC with a degree in elementary education and like Gordo, was going to be at USC going for her masters while teaching elementary school in Hill Ridge. "Excited. I can't believe I'm gonna be teaching at Hill Ridge Elementary. Its gonna be so weird. I wonder if Mrs. Ornstein is still there?" They both shared a laugh at the thought of their old third grade teacher who they thought had to have been ancient back then. "What about you Mr. Director?" Lizzie asked with a smile.

"While I work on my masters, I got a paid internship at Warner Brothers that I start in a few weeks. I gotta start looking for an apartment, I love my parents but I don't really want to live at home again for very long," Gordo told her.

"I know someone who has couch you can crash on," Lizzie suggested with a grin.

Gordo closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "We're barely talking, I think the last thing we need is to be living together." He paused and shuffled his feet, "Is she here?" Gordo asked softly.

Lizzie snickered, "Yea and she's just as nervous about seeing you."

"I'm not nervous," Gordo said stuffing his hands in his pockets.

She just laughed, "I'm gonna get something to eat. Give me a call when you get settled. I really want you and Chris to meet," Lizzie said and then kissed his cheek before walking over to the grill. Chris had been her boyfriend for the past year and half and things were getting serious between them; she really wanted to get Gordo's opinion of him. Even after they'd broken up, Lizzie and Gordo were still extremely close, almost like brother and sister.

After watching Lizzie walk away, he went back to looking around. Seeing Ethan and Kate huddled together, he smiled. A few months ago, on Valentine's Day, Ethan proposed to Kate. He had called him excitedly the next day, begging him to be his best man.

Watching them, he started to think about his other friends. Larry had graduated from Princeton and was now in New York working on his law degree at Columbia. Veruca was wrapping up the last of her finals at Stanford and was coming back next week. Finally, Claire would be flying in tomorrow after graduating from NYU.

His smile widened a little as he thought about Claire. They had become close friends during college, especially when Larry and her broke up towards the end of freshman year. Kate had asked him to check on her, to make sure she was ok. Gordo had taken two trains to New York City to check on her. While the breakup had been mutual, it still hurt both of them. From that a real friendship grew. Than when Gordo and Miranda broke up in the middle of their junior year, it was Claire who came to Boston to be there for him.

The summer between junior and senior year when Gordo had stayed in Boston, cause he didn't want to face Miranda at home, Claire stayed in Boston for the summer with him and it lead to an ill fated romance between the two. At the end of summer, they broke it off, realizing he was on the rebound and their friendship meant more to them than some fling. _"But it was still a hell of a summer,"_ he thought with a smile.

A little later, as Gordo was talking to Matt and Melina, he happened to glance across the yard and finally saw her. Miranda was standing by herself, staring out into space. He could tell she was in her own little world. Excusing himself from Matt and Melina, he slowly walked over to her and did his best to ignore the voice in his head that was telling him to turn around and run.

Miranda didn't notice him standing in front of her, Gordo grinned a little as he watched her. _"She's still gorgeous."_ She was wearing a sky blue t-shirt, jeans, a pair of sandals. Clearing his throat, he watched Miranda's head snap up and when she saw Gordo standing in front of her, her breath caught in her throat.

"Hi," he said weakly.

"Hi."

"How are you?" Gordo asked. _"Well that was lame."_

"Good. I graduated magna cum lauda," she answered. _"Idiot."_

"Congratulations," he told her.

"Thanks. I start work in a few weeks."

"Cool," Gordo said, "Where are you working."

"Markson Media. It's an advertising firm in LA, I'm gonna help create marketing campaigns and stuff," Miranda told him.

They fell into an awkward silence, neither sure what to say. "What were you day dreaming about?" Gordo asked, trying to think of something to talk about.

Miranda blushed a little and her lips twitched like she wanted to smile. "The Adirondacks," she simply stated.

Gordo smiled at the memory, "It was a fun weekend."

She frowned, "It was denying the inevitable."

Right before Miranda and Gordo broke up, they made a last ditch effort to save their relationship by renting a cabin in the Adirondacks for a long weekend together. While the weekend was great, it was just denying the inevitable. All the problems they had left, were there waiting for them upon their return.

"We grew apart," he said simply.

When they started college, they saw each other every weekend. After awhile, increased workloads and different commitments lead them to seeing each other every other weekend. They really didn't notice anything changing, even when they barely saw each other once a month. But not seeing each other, lead them to have more arguments and the more arguments they had, the uglier they got.

"So how's Claire?" Miranda asked bitterly. That was another thing that happened because of their arguments; Miranda blamed Claire for coming in between them.

Gordo rubbed his forehead, "Do we have to have this argument again?" Miranda was about to say something but Gordo cut her off, "Claire is my friend. Only my friend. When we were going out, I was faithful to you. Claire was just a sounding board when I got frustrated with you. We didn't even think of trying anything until the summer after we broke up."

Miranda looked at him, not sure what to think. Gordo stepped up to her, "Why would I lie to you now?"

Miranda sighed sadly. "I'm sorry. I don't really blame Claire anymore. I was just trying to blame someone for our problems," she paused for a moment, "I've been thinking about us lately. We never really dealt with our problems, we did everything but actually deal with them."

Gordo nodded and then watched as Miranda reached up with her left hand and rubbed her neck. "Your still wearing the ring," he noted with a small smile.

Miranda smiled a little as she looked at her hand. "I didn't keep it off for very long. It didn't just represent our relationship but our friendship too and we're still friends, right?"

"We'll always be friends," Gordo told her. "I've missed you."

Miranda sighed again and looked into his eyes, "I've missed you too."

He ran his hand through his hair and looked down at the ground, "There anyone new in your life?" he asked cautiously. He really didn't want to pry, especially cause they were finally cutting through the awkwardness and reestablishing their friendship. But just seeing her, brought back a lot of those old feelings he had made himself believe were gone.

Miranda shook her head no. "How about you?" she asked with a little anxiousness in her voice.

"Nope," Gordo answered. He watched Miranda fight back a smile. _"Could those old feelings be returning for her too?"_ he thought. _"Could we really have a second chance?"_ Taking a deep breath, "I think no matter what, we would've broken up. It would've been something else."

Miranda nodded in agreement. "I think it was also cause we were young and moving too fast."

"Yea but its hard to ignore such strong feelings," he paused for a moment, taking a deep breath to try and calm his suddenly nervous stomach, "and maybe impossible to let them go."

Miranda looked at him for a moment, "Yea." She took a step closer to him and their faces were inches apart.

Miranda's scent was filling all of Gordo's senses; it was like being drunk.

"Your staying here now, right?" she asked him in an almost whisper.

"Yea," he said as his voice cracked slightly.

Miranda bit her lip and tried to squash her own nervous feeling. "Me too." She started to fidget with the ring, "Do you still love me?" Miranda asked suddenly, trying to keep her face blank.

Gordo swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to remain focused, "Do you still love me?" he asked back. He didn't want to tip his hand before he knew how she felt.

As they stared intently into each other's eyes, their lips moved towards each other like magnets. "I asked you first," Miranda mumbled before their lips meshed together. The world seemed to slip away around them as they passionately kissed and their arms slipped around each other..

Breaking only because they needed air, they looked at each other. "I still love you." they said breathlessly in unison and smiled at each other.

"Second chance?" Gordo asked hopefully.

Miranda smiled, "It'll be hard but I love you too much to just let you go again."

Gordo smiled back at her and wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. "I don't want to let you go either. We're older, maybe a little wiser, and I know we can really handle whatever happens."

Standing together for a few minutes, Gordo took her left hand and asked, "What would you say if I were to replace that ring."

Miranda took her hand back quickly, "No! I love this ring. I don't want you to replace it."

After giving her a quick kiss to calm her down, "Ok, replace is the wrong word. What if I were to give you another ring someday." He grinned at her confused expression. "Maybe something that had just a diamond in it."

Smiling, she got what he was saying, "Than I'd be very happy, someday." Tightening her arms around his waist, she rested her head on his shoulder and nuzzled his neck.

As Gordo held her, he smiled. _"When I get you that diamond ring someday, we'll both be very happy."_


End file.
